Montana Before History: 11,000 Years of Hunter-Gatherers in the Rockies and Plains

Montana Before History: 11,000 Years of Hunter-Gatherers in the Rockies and Plains

Title: Montana Before History
Subtitle: 11,000 Years of Hunter-Gatherers in the Rockies and Plains
Author: Douglas H. MacDonald
Price: $20.00 paper
ISBN: 978-0-87842-585-3

Dig into Montanaâs past with this guide to the stateâs best archaeological sites.A cache north of Livingston, the oldest known evidence of humans in Montana, was left by mammoth hunters more than 11,000 years ago. Their cultural descendents survived in Montana until modern times, hunting game and gathering roots and berries. Montana Before History, organized chronologically from the Paleoindian period to the Late Prehistoric period, details how Montanaâs early peoples adapted to the rugged environment and several dramatic changes in climate. Learn how they hunted bison and other game before the introduction of the horse, how archaeologists can identify a culture by its projectile point, and where Montanaâs original hard-rock miners worked their quarries.

About the Author: Douglas MacDonald received a PhD in anthropology from Washington State University and now teaches in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Montana. He specializes in prehistoric archaeology, stone tools, and cultural resource management. As a graduate student, he traveled the Great Plains and Rockies looking for stone sources used by prehistoric peoples. While most of the year he lives in Missoula, Montana, with his wife and two kids, during the summer he leads excavations at archaeological sites throughout the state and in Yellowstone National Park.